Geek of the week

ByPublished
September 8, 2006

This issue’s GOTW is someone who managed to convince a judge he wasn’t one.

Nicholas Lee Jacobsen, from Oregon, US, hacked into the network of T-Mobile USA in 2004 where he accessed personal info on 400 customers as well as information sent by a US Secret Service agent, claimed The Inquirer.

Caught and tried, Jacobsen pleaded stupidity, claiming he lacked “comprehension and maturity” while carrying out the deed. “I did some very stupid things,” he added, as he stared a maximum jail sentence of five years and a fine of up to US$250,000 in the face.

Surprisingly, the US district judge George King agreed, noting “maybe you didn’t appreciate that, perhaps because of your youth.”

Jacobsen was sentenced to a year’s home detention plus fined US$10,000 to cover T-Mobile’s losses. Geek enough to break in, but not Geek enough to know what to do with the info? hmm...